68 Quotes by Julian Bream

  • Author Julian Bream
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    It is difficult to understand the fortunes of an instrument. There was music written for the guitar until the mid-19th century. Then the instrument declined in popularity.

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  • Author Julian Bream
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    A violin is tuned to a fifth. But a guitar is tuned to a fourth with a one-third middle. It is very perplexing to composers.

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  • Author Julian Bream
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    Music has been my real solace. And that's why I play music. And that's why I'm so determined, or have been so determined to pursue what I wanted to do, come what may.

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    I think that the first World War put an end the kind of music that Mahler, Bruckner and Richard Strauss were writing. A change of fashion was needed.

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    I used to drive myself about in an old Austin van... and then have to sleep in the back because I couldn't afford a hotel.

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  • Author Julian Bream
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    Some composers end up writing for the guitar as they would write piano music or, more often, harp music. It isn't the same.

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    My father was a very clever man. My mother was not clever. An extraordinary woman, but simple.

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  • Author Julian Bream
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    Wanting to play the guitar was neither a wild dream nor a realistic ambition. It was simply inevitable.

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